Button of the Imperial Guard units, yellow instrument metal. It is carefully made using a stamp from bronze for the restoration of a tunic or uniform reconstruction.
On March 3, 1862, new buttons with the image of the Imperial crown were introduced, initially assigned to seven regiments whose patrons were the Emperor or Empress:
•1st Leib Dragoon Moscow His Majesty’s Regiment
•2nd Leib Dragoon Pskov Her Majesty’s Regiment
•2nd Leib Uhlan Courland His Majesty’s Regiment
•2nd Leib Hussar Pavlograd His Majesty’s Regiment
•1st Leib Grenadier Yekaterinoslav His Majesty’s Regiment
•13th Leib Grenadier Erivan His Majesty’s Regiment
•68th Leib Infantry Borodino His Majesty’s Regiment
Brass buttons were also assigned to the staff trumpet major of the 1st Grenadier Division, and lead buttons with the crown to the staff trumpet major of the Caucasian Grenadier Division.
On February 26, 1869, the use of crown buttons was expanded to include not only units whose patrons were the Emperor or Empress but also those whose patrons were the Heir Tsarevich and the Hereditary Tsarevna. These units included:
•12th Grenadier Astrakhan His Imperial Highness the Tsarevich Regiment
•3rd Uhlan Smolensk His Imperial Highness the Tsarevich Regiment
•11th Uhlan Chuguev Her Imperial Highness the Tsarevna Great Princess Maria Feodorovna Regiment
•19th Dragoon Pereyaslav His Imperial Highness the Tsarevich Regiment
From 1856 to 1865, the Heir Tsarevich (the future Emperor Alexander III) was also the patron of the 17th Dragoon Seversky Regiment. However, on May 29, 1865, he relinquished this role, and the crown buttons were not assigned to this regiment. The 9th Vyborg Settled Finnish Rifle Battalion (also under the Tsarevich’s patronage) was disbanded in 1867, along with other Finnish units.
On May 26, 1869, the Heir Tsarevich was appointed patron of the 145th Infantry Novocherkassk Regiment, and on February 26, 1876, became the second patron of the regiments His Majesty and the military academies of Pavlograd, Pavlovsky, and Alexandrovsky. On February 28, 1879, the 80th Kabardian Infantry Regiment received the crown buttons, and on September 20, 1879, the 16th Rifle Battalion (later a regiment), and on May 25, 1891, the 1st Eastern Siberian Rifle Battalion.
In October 1894, Nicholas II ordered no changes to the uniforms of regiments and military academies that had been named His Majesty and those that were under the patronage of the late Emperor Alexander III. On October 30, 1894, crown buttons were introduced for the 93rd Irkutsk Infantry Regiment. Subsequently, crown buttons were assigned to:
•2nd Grenadier Rostov Regiment
•51st Lithuanian Infantry Regiment
•12th Eastern Siberian Rifle Regiment
•15th Dragoon Alexandrian Regiment
The last three regiments likely did not receive the crown buttons, as on August 29 of the same year, new buttons of a different design were adopted for all military units.
On July 6, 1903, the crown buttons were assigned to the 9th Infantry Ingermanland Regiment in connection with its 200th anniversary.
